LA woman evades intruder by climbing onto roof

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In this Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014 photo, Melora Rivera, who fled her house through an attic window to escape an intruder, seen on the roof behind her, waits for help after an early-morning break in at her house in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. The intruder, later identified as Christian Hicks, was arrested by Los Angeles police officers and is being held for investigation of burglary.

Los Angeles police have arrested a man who broke into a woman's house and followed her onto the roof after she fled out of a second-story window.

A photo snapped by a passerby shows Melora Rivera cowering under an eave Wednesday morning, calling for help on her cell phone, while the intruder comes up the other side of the roof.

Officers soon surrounded the house in Venice and urged the man to surrender, while firefighters raised a ladder to the roof.

Police arrested 29-year-old Christian Hicks, described by neighbors as a homeless person seen often in the neighborhood.

Rivera tells KCBS-TV (http://cbsloc.al/1rfmuNf ) she was in bed when the man broke a panel on her door and reached in to unlock it.